7 small learning sections.

When making craft the pertains to a small child's interest in the outcome with the small children around you can easily become a learning session.


For instance while making a paper plate Christmas tree six main learning skills are occurring

• skills - fine motor, 
• counting,
• identification of 'small, medium, and large
• occupational health and safety
• being part of a team
• memory recall.
• creative dialogue

Have the child identify the largest section of the tree while it is being decorated and created. Once the largest section is done move through the sections onto the smallest section.

When made and dry discreetly write on the back the names of the participants and the date.


Each year when this tree is being used the flash backs through the years are added to.  Encourage the flash backs and stories to be told. Point out how to move a negative into a positive telling of the story.


Next year add another tree to the collection. Repeat all the processes.

Statistics and probability for 7 year olds

During the later part of their seventh year, children figure out how to “collect” information and use what they find in a discussion. For instance, the child who is looking for an increase in allowance may poll her friends and discover that they are all getting a dollar more than her. She will then bring back this collected information and present it to her parents in hopes of getting an increase in her own allowance.

Eight-year-olds begin to understand the probability or chance that something will happen. For instance, when given a bag with two blue marbles and a red marble, they will recognize that if they reach in without looking and pull one out it is more likely that they would draw a blue marble.

Many eight-year-olds may also be able to say that when flipping a coin, the chances of it landing heads up are 50/50.


References:  PBS parents

Race to the Finish

Choose the spinner that gives you the greatest chance of landing on the square you want ... or avoiding the one you want to miss as you "Race To the Finish!"

Note: To access these materials in PDF format, you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

PDF (92k)

Materials:

• game board (provided in PDF Download)
• spinners (provided in PDF Download)
• paper clip
• pencil
• game pieces (a different piece for each player)

Directions:

1. Print out the game board and spinners. Invite your child to play the game "Race to the Finish!" with you. Explain the rules of the game and demonstrate how to use the spinner (as shown on spinner page).
2. Rules of the game: Two to four people can play. Players put their game pieces on START. Each player chooses a spinner, spins the paper clip, and moves to the nearest square that shows that number. On each turn, you choose the spinner that gives you the best chance of spinning the number you want ñ or the best chance of avoiding the number you donít want! The first to cross the finish line (by spinning a 4) wins the game.
3. As you play, talk about why you choose one spinner over another. If the number you want appears more than once on a spinner, your chances of spinning it are greater than if it appears only once.

Parent Pointers:

• Use this activity to give your child experience with probability.
• For game pieces, use buttons or other small objects.

References: PBS Parents

Graph Those Stickers !

Graphing stickers from your favorite fresh fruits is a fun activity that gets the whole family involved.

Note: To access these materials in PDF format, you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

PDF (102k)

Materials:

• 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper
• labels from the skins of fruits
• grocery store flyers
• marker
• glue stick or paste

Directions:

1. Don't throw away those sticky labels on fresh fruits - use them to make a graph! At the top of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper, write, "The Fruits We Eat."
2. Now invite your child to cut out pictures of fruits from grocery flyers. (The pictures should be small enough to paste side-by-side across the bottom of the paper.)
3. Use the marker to make a straight line down the left side of the paper, and another line across the bottom.
   
4. Paste the pictures beneath the bottom line, and write the numbers 1-10 up the vertical line.
   
5. Post the empty graph where your child can reach it. Each time anyone eats a fruit, ask them to put the sticker on the graph in the appropriate column. If the fruit doesn't have a sticker, make a mark in the column instead.
6. As the stickers accumulate, talk about the graph with your child. Ask, "What story does our graph tell about the fruits we eat?" (For example, It tells which we ate more of, which we didn't eat very much of.)

Parent Pointers:

• This activity gives your child experience collecting and displaying data.
• Find other things that your child is interested in graphing (weather conditions every morning, for example) and help set up a graph for recording the information.

Reference:  PBS Parents